Texas Mike, Permanently Banned

"Texas Mike" who has posted probably over 30k photos on F-Chat was permanently banned yesterday for posting photos of a Tech session we had at my workshop "Moorespeed" for the Ferrari Club this past Saturday because he is now one of my employees. One of my clients loaned me his Matte Black LaFerrari so I could conduct Technical discussion covering all the amazing technology of this badass Ferrari. He was sharing photos of the newest most powerful Ferrari ever built for the street, not some off the wall topic but only after getting permission from the owner he could share photos on social media.....

Mike went back to the post to add some photos, tried logging in and got a note he was banned permanently for promoting a business. Really, come on, I fail to see the problem? I don't need help promoting my business, the only real help I possibly need from F-Chat now is helping me find another quality Ferrari Tech to hire because we have so much work here.

I knew nothing of Mike’s posting. He did not do it because I told him to do so, he did it to share something he was proud of and wanted to share with his friends....you folks. I could tell today something was bothering him and that’s when he told me about it. He’s really hurt and can’t believe he did anything causing him to lose his ability to communicate with his network of Ferrari friends on F-Chat.

Mike is a good kid who has grown into a good honest young man. I took him under my wing when he was down and out. I met him THROUGH FCHAT where he had taken pictures at my shop and used the name of my workshop in the description just like he had when at Ferrari of Houston or any other shop....he was not banned then. I chewed on his butt a bit for publishing a customer's name. After explaining I don't mind photos but clients names, VIN numbers, and license plates were not to be displayed in public. He got it.

Back then he was working at a Subway sandwich shop for $6 bucks an hour and struggling to live. It was obvious to me his passion was with the F-Cars so even though he had no car skills other than photographing Ferraris, I offered him $10/hr to come work here. I told him if he worked hard and learned the business, there was no limit to his growth with us. He started out the low man on the totem pole as the janitor, then to porter where he moved cars in and out and then to preparing cars to deliver where he detailed cars and help QC them. He has worked hard since those first days and he worked his way up the ladder to where he now interfaces directly with our clients. I'm proud of him, his skill set has evolved using his passion for Ferrari's as a springboard where now he actually writes service, orders parts, prepares estimates and many other hats here at our workshop. He pitches in where help is needed, a skill not many young many have these days….called initiative. Last week he came into my office and asked if he could help with the Tech Session. So I let him run with the ball. He set up all the details for this past Saturday’s LaFerrari unveiling where I could focus on the car and our visitors. It was his first time to organize an event like this. He arranged the breakfast and coffee vendors, coordinated employees to help; he took care of all the details so I could focus on presenting the car and its technology which is damn sure incredible. It was cool, he even had one of our techs play "Back in Black" by AC/DC on the shop stereo loudly as the car covers were lifted off the car. I call Mike the "Officer of Information" when it comes to Ferrari's. He loves them. He's an avid Ferrari aficionado that one day will have advanced his career enough to where he could potentially own one himself. It’s a real shame that the wind has been taken out of his sails. It doesn't have to be this way. He's really bummed.

Even more interesting, Mike posted the exact same photos in the section for the LaFerrari and left them all up intact. Nobody complained. It was appreciated.


It is guys with a passion for these cars like Mike that work or own workshops like mine that spent countless hours donating time as a "Consultant" that gave this website credibility early on. Guys like me that no longer post here. I don't post like I use to. Maybe once in a while in F1 section in the wee hours of the morning will I post so I can have someone to watch it in the middle of the night as my wife ain't doing that. But, why should I, or Mike for that matter anymore? My consultant status was taken away as well as other consultants as most of you know a few years ago. I was not a consultant of how to smoke cigarettes or a consultant because I'm an expert on Golden Retrievers, I was a consultant for my knowledge and experience working on real Ferrari's....what this website is all about, or so I thought. Now I can't even post a photo if I needed to help someone unless I "PAY". Why should I pay, I get paid to help people with their Ferrari's that's what I do. Giving away my time on this site has value, at least some people think so, and that was why I was made a consultant to help this website in the first place, in order for it to grow which it did....oops I guess I and others are not needed or appreciated anymore.....so I don't post anymore. It does not have to be this way.....I quit posting because I got reprimanded for trying to help the community exposing a scam with a photo of a fake title as compared to a real Texas auto title warning everyone that the scam artist was so thorough he even tried to legitimize getting a $20k deposit by setting up a PPI at Moorespeed "my shop" by calling me on the phone for the buyer. I posted my contact info and asked anyone to contact me direct if they had any info so we could put this ring of thieves in jail..... I get a post from Rob Lay telling me to stop as I was "promoting my business" and if I did it again, I'd be banned. I don't think I've posted a damn thing since other than meaningless F1 race chat. I fail to see how that post was doing anything but trying to help the entire Ferrari community pull together to catch a crime ring as well as save potential buyers from losing substantial investment on a fictitious Ferrari. And now this with Mike getting banned, it really strikes a nerve........

IMHO......"What comes around Goes Around "

I did not post this to get into a pissing match and I'll probably get banned too for this post and it will be completely erased so only a few of you will see it anyhow.
Reinstate Texas Mike.
Life is way too short, he did not do anything wrong.

David

 

Seems fair, but I did not witness the actual threads so I can't tell if this is the whole story.

 

seems pretty ruthless to me. I understand protecting the paying sponsors, but come on. How about some proportionality with the retribution.

 

He can just come back under another name and email address. Wouldn't be the first.

 

I don't understand why he would be banned unless a prior warning was given. Fchat does have rules against non sponsor posting, but a perma ban doesn't seem right unless it was a promotion. I doubt he would have posted if he was aware it would result in a ban.


* I did not see the thread in question.

 

Well if its a systemic problem...it's our loss really.

 

Is this the thread in question? If yes, that is really harsh. You barely see one logo for the shop in question...I had to look at the photos again to see it. I hadnt seen it the first time these pics were posted..


http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/288gto-f40-f50-enzo-laferrari/400801-official-ferrari-laferrari-picture-thread-260.html

 

How your post would look without promoting your company:

What your post actually looked like, prominently mentioning your company name in the first sentence:

There is virtually no difference in context, or harm to the storyline, or damage to what a great person you are, except for the excuse to repeatedly insert the name of your company ( without paying).....

 

And if I read the details correctly Moorespeed (sp?) was once a consultant now is not even subscribed?

 

not that I carry any influence however I saw the thread and really thought it was kind of nice I never interpretted that anyone was promoting business that thought never occurred to me
seemed like an innocent post..
but I guess you guys have to do what you have to do.. If he is a young hard working guy then we need many more of them in this country
thats my 2cc

 

make sense ....I don't really get it but I don't need to .. you should do what you need to do with your business.. I must say I have other cars and have gone to some of the other brand x chats and none seem to be anywhere near as user friendly as Ferrari chat.. and I have never posted more then one or two posts on them so do what you must.
keep up the good work...

 

I dont have dog in this fight and have yet to lock horns with any mod on any forum.

Mr. Lay, I say good for you for taking a second look at the situation. An enthusiast with over 30,000 posts obviously has contributed to the knowledge base and general promotion of this forum in general.

So kudos to you.

 

The words "obvious intent was malicious" and "trying to create viral drama" are quite extreme, IMO.

Seems like there's some room for offline communication between Rob and David.

 

From where I sit, if you're backing off TexasMike (conceding that he was not out to harm intentionally) then you'd have to view the original post of this thread through the lens that David was reacting to an action that was admittedly moderation overreaction.

I have no dog in the hunt, or if I do it's with FChat/rob.

Just my opinion, that unless you have your paying sponsors actively calling for Moorespeed's head over this, then it's a little heavy handed to permaban anybody.

You've always erred on the side of leaving threads visible for all to read, which I think is good, but maybe closing to new posts until some communication happened would be prudent.

 

Hmmm, didn't know that. I figured there was more to it than just a photo being posted in the thread that started it all.

Again, without seeing the thread I don't know how promotional it appeared. I think the mods do a great job overall and thats part of the reason why I stay around. Too many forums get ruined from lack of moderation.

 

PS I mean this thread, not the original thread in question.

 

+1

 

i think the legal term or standard you are talking about is "fruits off a poisonous tree". .. where evidence gathered after the fact from an illegal search is no longer admissable. . not sure this applies completely here, but if you're living in a benevolent realm here - then if there wasn't a major foul to begin with, then are we red carding the complaint or does it merely deserve a warning/yellow card ?

that being said, the OP does bring up a delicate point. . While this is a commercial venture (now), the concept that you want the greatest amount of knowledge for all users is also there. . And someone (or entity) which freely gives information that is helpful to the community has value (content is king) and many of the most knowledgeable also work in the space but you have to weight that against sponsors who pay money. . The unfortunately aspect of this is that many sponsors here are not necessarily sponsoring out of the goodness of their heart (some balanced mix is always best) but some are strictly commercial and have zero actual content gain (outside of monetary). So as members and owners/moderators - its a line that needs to be looked at and perhaps weighed.

 

will change his mind